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Free Fundraising Platforms: What Nonprofits Should Know

Every organization wants to keep fundraising costs low — and “free” platforms sound like the answer. But after helping nonprofits run thousands of raffle fundraisers, one pattern shows up again and again.
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Nearly 20 years in online raffle fundraising
Tens of thousands of raffle transactions analyzed
Real human phone support for every organization

Are Free Fundraising Platforms Really Free?

Most “free” fundraising platforms still generate revenue — they’ve just moved the cost somewhere else. Understanding where is the first step toward choosing the right platform for your organization.

Most free fundraising platforms generate revenue through one or more of the following mechanisms:
1
Supporter Service Fees
A fee added to the supporter’s total at checkout — not charged to your organization, but visible to the buyer.
2
Donor Tipping Prompts
An optional — but prominently displayed — tip suggested at checkout to “support the platform.”
3
Payment Processing Fees
Standard card processing costs, sometimes bundled with additional platform markups.

The real question isn’t which platform is cheapest to your organization. It’s which checkout experience leads to the most supporters actually completing their purchase.

The Two Most Common Models

Free fundraising software generally follows one of two approaches. Each one handles cost differently — and each produces a different experience for your supporters.

Supporter Service Fees

Your organization keeps the full ticket price. Supporters pay a small, clearly disclosed service fee during checkout. For many nonprofits, this is the simplest way to run a fundraiser without paying platform costs directly.

Example: 10 ticket bundle
Ticket bundle price
$50.00
Service fee (supporter-paid)
+$6.00
Supporter total
$56.00
Your organization receives
$50.00 ✓

The checkout experience should remain clear and transparent so supporters understand exactly what they’re paying and why.

Tip-Based Platforms

Some platforms advertise software “funded entirely by optional supporter tips.” During checkout, supporters are prompted to add a voluntary tip to support the platform — often with suggested amounts pre-selected.
Typical tip prompt options
Option A (pre-selected)
15%
Option B
20%
Option C
25%+
Supporter can adjust/remove
Yes — but…

Supporters can usually remove the tip — but the checkout experience still shapes how comfortable they feel completing the purchase. That friction is measurable.

Checkout Friction Has a Measurable Impact

Based on normalized analysis from tens of thousands of raffle transactions, the pricing model used during checkout directly affects how many supporters actually complete their purchase.

The biggest difference between fundraising platforms is often not the visible fee — it’s how many supporters make it all the way through checkout.

Incremental abandonment reflects additional checkout exits compared to a baseline of normal purchase behavior on a simple, frictionless checkout.
Raffle Hotline Insight
30 – 40%
incremental checkout abandonment when tip prompts suggest 17–30% — documented across thousands of nonprofit raffle campaigns

Pricing model Incremental checkout abandonment Typical fundraising impact
Organization-paid pricing 0% Normal purchase behavior.
Supporter service fee (~12%) ~1% Minimal measurable impact.
Service charge (11–14%) 1–2% Slight friction.
Tip prompt around 15% ~25% Major hesitation during checkout.
Tip prompts (17–30%) 30–40% Severe abandonment and lost revenue.

Same Raffle. Very Different Results.

Both platforms below are “free” to the organization. But the checkout experience changes everything.

  • Scenario: $20,000 Raffle Fundraiser Goal — identical ticket prices, same number of interested buyers

Clear, transparent checkout experience

~$19,800

Minimal abandonment. Supporters see a straightforward, expected fee and proceed with confidence.

~1% incremental abandonment on a transparent service fee

Unexpected prompt disrupts checkout flow

~$13,000

Large tip prompts cause significant drop-off. Many supporters decide not to complete the purchase.

~30–40% incremental abandonment from tip friction

⚠ ~$6,800 left on the table

“We didn’t realize how the checkout would look to supporters.”

A common post-launch comment from nonprofit organizers

The reality behind that sentence

Organizations often focus on avoiding platform fees. That is understandable. But the supporter checkout experience is what ultimately determines how many tickets get sold. When the fee explanation is confusing, or the last step feels awkward, completed purchases drop.

This is one of those issues that looks small in a platform demo and suddenly becomes very large when a live fundraiser depends on it.

The Right Tool for the Right Situation

Free platforms aren’t the wrong answer for every nonprofit — but they work best in specific situations. Here’s where they tend to be a good fit.

S

Smaller Fundraising Events (Under $1000)

Lower total revenue means the checkout abandonment impact is less significant — and cost savings matter more at small scale.

T

Short-term campaigns (Less than 1 week)

A one-time push with a narrow audience can work well on a free platform, especially when supporters already know and trust your organization.

E

First-Time Online Fundraising

Organizations experimenting with online fundraising for the first time can use a free platform to test before committing to a dedicated solution.

However: larger fundraising events — especially raffle fundraisers — often benefit significantly from a simpler, more predictable checkout experience designed specifically for ticket-style purchases. The revenue difference can be substantial.

Transparent pricing instead of checkout guesswork

Chance2Win gives organizations two simple options: a supporter-paid model where the nonprofit keeps the full ticket price, and a low-cost organization-paid model designed to maximize completed purchases. Both run on the same raffle platform built specifically for nonprofit fundraising events.
Supporter-paid modelOrganization keeps the full ticket price.
Low-cost organization-paid modelClean checkout designed to reduce friction.
Same raffle platformPurpose-built for nonprofit fundraising events.
View Chance2Win Pricing

Experience matters when the fundraiser is real

The Chance2Win team helped pioneer online raffle fundraising nearly 20 years ago. Over the past decade the platform has evolved to support thousands of nonprofit fundraising campaigns of every type and size.

Purpose-Built Raffle Infrastructure
Not a generic ticketing tool — built specifically for the way nonprofits run raffles.
Hybrid Online + In-Person
Accept cash and check at the door. All entries merge into a single unified drawing.
Transparent Pricing
No hidden fees, no surprise tip prompts. Two clear options — you choose what fits best.
Reliable Reporting Tools
Export donor data, track entries, and audit every transaction with confidence.
Real Human Phone Support
Reach an actual person when you need help — not a chatbot or a support ticket queue.

Keep the pricing conversation moving

This page works best as part of a pricing cluster. Link visitors into deeper decision-stage pages so they understand not just cost, but fundraising performance.
Fundraising Platform Fees ExplainedExplore page →
How Much Does a Raffle Cost?Explore page →
Main Pricing PageExplore page →

Questions nonprofits actually ask

K
L

Are free fundraising platforms really free?

Usually not in a literal sense. Most still generate revenue through supporter service fees, tip prompts, payment processing, or a combination of those. The more important question is how that pricing appears during checkout and whether it affects completion rates.
K
L

What is the biggest difference between free fundraising platforms?

It is often the checkout experience, not the marketing headline. Two platforms can both claim to be free for the organization, but one may create far more friction for supporters at the final step.
K
L

Why do tip prompts matter so much for raffle fundraisers?

Raffle supporters usually behave more like fixed-price buyers than open-ended donors. They expect the price shown on the page to remain stable. When a large tip suggestion appears at checkout, some decide not to finish.
K
L

When is a free fundraising platform a reasonable option?

They can be useful for smaller events, short-term campaigns, and organizations testing online fundraising for the first time. The risk rises as the fundraiser becomes larger or more dependent on clean purchase completion.
K
L

What does Chance2Win do differently?

Chance2Win offers transparent fee models built specifically for nonprofit raffle fundraisers, including a supporter-paid option and a low-cost organization-paid option. The focus is not just on platform cost, but on maximizing completed purchases and giving organizations access to real human support.

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    Raffle Mastery: The Complete Book to Running Profitable Nonprofit Raffles

    120+ pages of real-world raffle strategy drawn from nearly 20 years of experience supporting thousands of nonprofit fundraisers. Ticket pricing psychology, bundle tactics, promotion strategies, compliance checkpoints, and the common mistakes that kill raffle revenue.
    • CheckmarkTicket pricing strategies that increase average order value
    • CheckmarkBundle psychology — why the right packages outperform discounts
    • CheckmarkHybrid event playbooks for in-person + online sales
    • CheckmarkCommon compliance mistakes and how to avoid them
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    Choose a platform that keeps pricing transparent and checkout simple

    That is how more supporters make it through the final step. And that is how more fundraising goals get hit.
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